


Helpless

by tigeressdion



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: First Class - Fandom
Genre: Also imagine there wasn't fuckin twenty years between first class and apocalypse ok, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, And i couldn't ignore this ship, Background Relationships, But i rewatched first class, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Honestly it gets so fluffy at the end, Hurt Alex Summers, Hurt/Comfort, LMAO, Listen I know I'm late to the party, Love at First Sight, M/M, Playing the waiting game tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigeressdion/pseuds/tigeressdion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex runs his eyes over the lines that have been etched into his face over the years, his fingers itch to touch them. To touch Darwin, to prove that what he's seeing is really there and not a cruel illusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helpless

**Author's Note:**

> Title and headings taken from 'Helpless', from the musical, Hamilton.

If It Takes Fighting A War

When he opens his eyes, he finds himself surrounded by darkness. There's a crushing weight on his arms, his chest, his legs, and around his head. He heaves in a rattling breath, choked with dust, and immediately begins coughing. He can't tell how long the fit goes on for, but he feels even weaker when it subsides.

  
He's trapped, he knows that much. With exhaustion clogging his mind and dulling his senses, his reaction is to panic. He loses control in a way that he hasn't for years. The energy whips and writhes around him, lighting and burning his surroundings. Smoke sears his nostrils, and he's taken by another coughing fit.

  
He's loses track of time, he forgets where he is, why he's there. He's so tired it's all he can do to cling to semi-consciousness.

  
Then, suddenly, there's movement from above. Small stones rattle down and pepper his face. Something is moving above him, something is moved above him, and a through a crack light seeps through.

  
It's only a small ray, but the sight of it brings tears to his eyes. He stares at the light, refuses to even blink, lest it disappear.

  
Something else moves, and now light pours down on him. Until a shadow blocks part of it, falling across him.

  
He squints against the light, the shape above him blurred by dust and tears.

  
Something soft brushes over his cheek.

  
"Jesus, Alex. What happened?"

  
He opens his mouth tries to speak, but all that escapes his mouth is a dry croak.

  
"I've got you, man. It's gonna be alright."

  
There's more shifting. Bit by bit, the pressure on each part of his body eases, until it's all gone.

  
Familiar hands reach around him, lifting him gently. he thinks he would scream at the pain it brings, but instead his body goes limp.

  
As the darkness washes back over him, he hears the voice speak again.  
"I've got you."

For Us To Meet

Alex wakes up again in a very different situation. He's in a room filled with a soft golden light, filtered through thin curtains that waft in the gentle breeze coming through the window. There's the hum of traffic and chatter drifting into the room, it's a welcome change to the oppressive silence and sound of his own shallow breathing.

  
He doesn't realise just how comfortable the bed he's lying on is until he tries to raise his head as the door opens. Standing in the doorway is a man Alex didn't think he'd see again. His chest clenches with an all-too-familiar worry. He tries to speak, but finds his throat too dry.

  
Darwin steps over to the bedside table and picks up a bottle of water with a straw in it, and offers it to him. Alex drinks gratefully, but still can't take his eyes off Darwin.

  
"Better?" Darwin asks, when Alex finally drops his head back on the pillow.

  
"Am I dead?" Alex asks in return.

  
Darwin frowns, a crease appears between his eyebrows. Alex runs his eyes over the lines that have been etched into his face over the years, his fingers itch to touch them. To touch Darwin, to prove that what he's seeing is really there and not a cruel illusion.

  
"You're alive, Alex." Darwin assures him. "Just like me. Against the odds." He smiles, small and slightly unsure. "Like me."

  
Alex does touch him then. Reaches out a trembling hand and brushes against Darwin's bare arm. Darwin catches his hand in his, squeezes gently. Darwin's hands are warm, and Alex closes his eyes. If Darwin were dead, he tells himself, he could never be so warm.

  
"Do you remember what happened?" Darwin asks, and Alex can tell he's sorry to have to interrupt the moment.

  
"There was an explosion." Alex says, opening his eyes again. "It was me, I was trying to help." He draws in a shuddering breath. "I don't think I did."

  
"You did." Darwin is reassuring him, again. Squeezing his hand, again. "Everyone else got out, from what I hear. Everyone thought that you were the casualty."

  
"Scott…" Alex mumbles. He's so tired, his entire body is heavy. It's so much effort, even to talk. "My brother. Is he okay?"

  
"He's well, Alex. He's learning about his powers, and he'll be happy to hear you're alright."

  
Alex slips away again as Darwin traces patterns on the back of his hand.

Then It Will Have Been Worth It

There's a lot to catch up on over the next week. Alex receives a sudden influx of visitors.

  
The first one is Scott. They're both crying when he enters, and when he leaves. It gets easier after the first one.

  
Charles comes a close second. He explains he theory about how Alex survived by absorbing the energy that hit him, much like he releases it. He also apologises profusely and sincerely for what happened to him. Alex accepts his first apology and waves the others away.

  
Hank visits, insists on checking Alex over, and is then hassled out by Darwin. Darwin insists that the healer he found for Alex was parfectly capable, and when Hank asks what he was called, Darwin rolls his eyes and repeats "The Healer".

  
Raven swings by, makes several jokes at his expense, and explains the current instability of mutant politics. Alex says it sounds like that, at least, is normal. Darwin chuckles from the kitchenette where he's (not-so-subtly) listening to their conversation.

  
Erik visits last, accompanied by Charles who stays in the kitchenette with Darwin, and fills in all the gaps about what happened with Apocalypse that the others missed out.

"I have to say, I'm glad you're not dead." Erik says, quietly and looking down at his hands.

  
Alex rolls his eyes. (He's not sure if he picked that up from Darwin, or the other way around.) "You really know how to make a guy feel special, Erik."

  
Erik gives him a half-hearted glare. "I'm trying to apologise."

  
"I notice that you didn't actually say you're sorry." Alex snaps back.

  
There's utter silence from the kitchenette.

  
"I was in a bad head space." Erik says.

  
Alex tilts his head at Erik, hoping his expression fully displays his disbelief. But then again, he knows Erik. So, he sighs and raises his eyebrows at Erik.

  
"Have you actually tried talking to someone about it?" He doesn't have the time or the energy to go into Erik's numerous issues, but he wants to help, if he can.

  
Erik nods slightly and scrubs his hand over his face. "I've been talking to Charles every week."

  
"Just make sure you listen to what he tells you, then." Alex says. He's a little surprised at how much it sounds like a warning.

  
"I will." Erik promises. He stands to leave, but once he reaches the door he glances over his shoulder at Alex. "I'm sorry."

  
As Erik walks away, Alex smiles and himself and mutters "still a dick", under his breath.

* * *

 

  
They're both lying in Alex's bed, which happened by accident.

  
Alex is stronger now, the aftereffects from almost dying have almost all worn off, aside from the occasional dizzy spell. So, Darwin has started to take issue with Alex still spending many hours lazing around. It reached the point where Darwin tried to take away Alex's blankets in an effort to make him get out of bed. That, in turn, resulted in a fierce tug of war that Alex won by pulling Darwin onto the bed with him. To his credit, Darwin was a gracious loser, even going so far as to pull the blanket back over them both.

  
"Tell me again how you managed to get this apartment." Alex says.

  
"I adapt to survive." Darwin says, and Alex just knows he wearing that shit-eating grin right now.

  
Unfortunately, he can't verify his facts before he's resting his head on Darwin's chest, listening with half an ear to his heartbeat. Darwin absently wrapped an arm around Alex's shoulders a few minutes ago, so he doesn't think he minds. Plus, Alex reminds himself, Darwin always was pretty tactile.

  
"Okay." Alex says. "Except that doesn't explain how you're living it up in New York City."

  
Alex feels Darwin shrug rather than sees it, but he still gets the message.

  
"Fine, keep your secrets. At least tell me how you survived… you know."

  
Alex still finds he has issues talking about that incident, even now, with Darwin alive and breathing _right here_. The week after the attack that he'd spent training with the others had been like an empty blur. If Alex looks back on that time now, he can recall very little from it. It was the weeks afterward that broke him.

  
He knows Charles understood. They were broken men together, each mourning a different type of loss. Charles understood because he'd fallen in love at first sight with a man who it seemed impossible to save too.

  
Well, maybe not quite as impossible as they'd thought.

  
"Hey." Darwin's tapping his shoulder, and Alex cranes his neck to look at him.

  
"Yeah?"

  
"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Darwin says, lips curved into a smile.

  
Alex has come ro recognise that smile as reserved especially for him.

  
"Sorry." He says. "Got lost in my thoughts."

  
"I saw." Darwin grins. "You looked very pensive. I'll give you the short version of my story."

  
Alex settles himself against Darwin's chest. "You have my undivided attention. Go."

  
"I think my mutation recognised that I was categorically fucked whatever happened." Darwin says. "So it stopped trying to make me energy-proof and zapped me right out of there. Next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the damn ocean." He shakes his head slightly, his grip around Alex tightens almost imperceptibly. "I must've swam for days before I reached land. Even then, it took me longer than I like to get back here."

  
"Well, thank fuck you got here when you did." Alex says. He doesn't elaborate; they both know what would have happened if Darwin hadn't found him.

* * *

  
They never really make a formal arrangement to live together. Alex just never moves out. Then he decorates the room he's been using as his own and fills the wardrobe with clothes that he's bought for himself.

They manage to achieve a kind of heightened domesticity that Alex didn't think roommates could reach. Just roommates, he has to keep reminding himself. No one would wait this long and not act if they wanted to anything other than friends.

  
Until one day they're standing in the kitchen, Alex is (once again) regaling Darwin with West Side Story's merits, and he realises Darwin is looking at him strangely. Alex frowns and looks over his shoulder.

  
He opens his mouth to ask what's going on, but Darwin leans in, grasps him by the shoulders, and kisses him.

  
Alex is shocked at first, but when Darwin back away, looking as though he's about to apologise, he steps forward and kisses him back.

  
"Took you long enough." Alex tells him, a giddy laugh escaping him.

  
"I was waiting for you." Darwin replies, unable to keep himself from laughing with him.

  
Alex rests his forehead against Darwin's chest, feeling him shake with laughter, and feels lighter than he can ever remember.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Let me know with comments/kudos.
> 
> Also, come yell at me on tumblr! Find me at no1mothmanfan. I take prompts!


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